With the winter holiday season quickly approaching I am once again compelled to encourage everyone to prevent crime by eliminating opportunity. There are many steps that you can take to protect yourself and your valuables from a holiday thief.

One of the most effective ways to protect yourself is to remain aware of your surroundings. This means taking the extra time to park in well lit areas, and to look for suspicious people loitering nearby before getting out of your car. If you see something or someone that makes you feel uncomfortable, move to another parking area and/or report your suspicions to security guards, or a law enforcement officer. We would much rather investigate a suspicious person report than a violent crime. Other suggestions include limiting the amount of cash and credit cards you carry while shopping, and when possible, avoid shopping alone.

The most effective way to protect your valuables is to properly secure them. One of the most common points of entry for car burglars is through an unlocked door or an open window. You would be surprised how many vehicle burglaries we investigate because owners simply did not lock their cars. By locking your car doors, and closing windows completely, this is arguably one of the most preventable crimes. For this reason, locking your car doors and windows is especially important during the holiday season when many people travel from one location to another while shopping.

It is also recommended that you place gifts, packages, and other valuables in the trunk of your car or at least move them out of plain view. Purses, wallets, gift cards, portable electronics, and cash are all an open invitation for a criminal to break into your car.

By taking a few minutes to protect yourself and your belongings you may prevent a crime. By doing so you are once again helping us in “Leading The Way For A Safer Pinellas.”

If you would like other suggestions regarding holiday safety please contact the Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Unit at (727) 582-5611.

Often we get caught up in our own busy lives and spheres of influence and forget that there is a whole other world out there, consisting of others that may not be as fortunate as us.

The economic situation in Haiti would make most of us long for home in appreciation for the opportunities we have in this country.

Haiti, with its 75% unemployment rate, $15-$20.00 average income per week, 70% illiteracy, 10,000+ homeless in the capital and thousands of children living on the streets; is visibly a country less blessed than our own.

Taking matters into their own hands, three of Clearwater’s Scientology Volunteer Ministers, Cary Goulston, Mike Campbell and Brad Kugler—all who have businesses and families to care for—decided to reach outside their comfort zone and give relief to Haiti. After months of fundraising and preparation, they traveled to Haiti last month to deliver enough Kenaf seeds (a fast growing plant that is an ideal food and building source) to feed thousands of Haitians. Equally important are the educational tools the three provided to the people of Haiti. These tools were developed by L. Ron Hubbard (the founder of Scientology) to further assist them in reversing their unprecedented rate of economic decline.

Come one, come all to the magical holiday festivities once again created by the Clearwater Community Volunteers, dubbed “Elves” by Santa himself.

If you’re already a faithful fan of “Winter Wonderland” I assure you, that this year has more surprises than ever!

However, while the Elves were busily working on “Winter Wonderland”, Pam Ryan Anderson (the Head Elf) received an urgent text from Santa. The text said, “Ho, Ho, Ho, there are still a few in the community that are not aware that the festivities are open to everyone and, admission is FREE!” and his text continued, “Ho, Ho, Ho, some ‘naughty overgrown children’ otherwise known as ‘adults’ may have never even noticed ‘Winter Wonderland’ when driving up and down Ft. Harrison.”

Clearwater FL, April 2007 - Spring has sprung and with it the fi rst block of Cleveland Streetscape is soon to be to be completed. The city plans to offi cially open the block of Cleveland St. between Ft. Harrison and Osceola with the First Stroll on March 16th at 11:00am.

Cleveland Streetscape has been an integral part of the city’s plan to redevelop downtown. The light pavers mesh well against the reddish borders of the new sidewalk, and a few weeks ago when the work crews started laying them, the excitement started spreading throughout the downtown core. In addition to the new blacktop, there are new antiquelooking street posts to light the way at night and will help to give the area some ambiance. The landscaping isn’t done yet, and there is still some things to do, but everyone I spoke with in downtown, as well as myself, are happy with the results.

Clearwater FL, April 2007 Cleveland Streetscape is nearing its second block of completion, and with it, new businesses and future residents are giving downtown Clearwater a new look. “We have pre-sold over 70% of our units”, reports Connie Super of Station Square Realty, “we are ahead of our projected sales.” This is a 13-story building with 126 residential condominium units, and 10,000 square feet of ground fl oor retail including a major restaurant space that sits just west of the Post Offi ce. In addition, the project will provide more than 100 public parking spaces within a structured garage.

Clearwater FL, April 2007 - Believe me: Clearwater is the lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of. It’s a small town of friendliness, aff ordable housing, good schools and growing business opportunities. It’s a true—officially voted—beach lover’s paradise, it’s the new 9-million dollar Cleveland streetscape, the new multi-million dollar beach walk, the new downtown marina with gorgeous water taxi that will take us back and forth from the white sand beaches and all the new shopping and restaurants of downtown. What more can we ask for? Apparently our Mayor Frank Hibbard dared to ask for much more than that and to many that was very politically incorrect. It will probably take a miracle to grant our mayor’s wishes, but given that it is over a decade since there has been a good miracle in Clearwater, (ever since the Blessed Virgin Mary briefl y chose to appear on the dark-tinted window panes of an office building on the side of US19 highway back in 1996. This made Clearwater world famous almost overnight) I think it’s time for another, and I hope I could help.

Clearwater, FL June 2008 - The evening of Wednesday May 28th saw over 100 members of the Clearwater Downtown Partnership (CDP) and city officials including Mayor Frank Hibbard and Vice mayor George Cretekos gathered downtown for the 2008 Momentum Awards for businesses, organizations, individuals and projects that have added to the vitality of downtown. After a wonderful meal catered by downtown Mediterranean restaurant Tangerine, the Mayor reviewed recent successes such as the beautiful streetscapes, a contract to bring boat slips to downtown in 2009 and residential projects such as Water’s Edge, Station Square, and The Strand.

A small plaza in downtown Clearwater, across from Classic Cars, where Cleveland Street turns toward Gulf to Bay. On this corner I was uncertain whether to feel safe or not. The transients were living an unfamiliar life to me, some locals did not dress or behave in customary ways, some did not speak my language, some did not look healthy, and others did not look trustworthy.

Just when you thought you’d seen the last of the ‘Road Closed” signs, more appeared. However, these signal exciting happenings on Cleveland Street.

The past two weekends Cleveland Street has been host to FREE community events. Starting off, Mike Reeves from Q105 celebrating their 35th Anniversary with live entertainment provided by Get Back! The Cast of Beatlemania.